Colosseum Tickets Tips ???

A guided tour does not have to cost that much if that is the only limitation. I had 5 in my group on 3/18/25, and our guided tour of the Colosseum, forum, and Palatine Hill cost me a little over $50 per person on Get Your Guide.

We were in Rome in January and I wasn’t able to stay up all night on the Colosseum website so we had to buy a tour. I found an audio guide tour from CIS tours on Get Your Guide that was about 60-something per person. It was really just the tickets and an audio guide app that we didn’t want, but it gave us the same experience as with regular tickets and I wasn’t sick from lack of sleep! The CIS rep was right where they told us to meet him and had printed paper vouchers for the tickets, so we could just take them and cross the street and get in the security line to go in.

Good luck with your trip!

You don't need to get up in the middle of the night! They are released every 15 minutes or 30 minutes seemingly. So I started looking at 6am and was able to get tickets for noon. There are a bunch of helpful guides on Reddit! Keep refreshing -- but not so often that you get locked out! The underground tickets are the hardest to get. I managed to get attic tickets on my second day of trying.

Hi Becky
My wife and I are going to visit Rome in October (2025). We were wondering if you got your tickets on the normal website or used a 3rd party website?
Thank you

Becky hasn't been active on the forums since early April so I doubt you'll see a reply but as she described her purchase experience, she used the official website.

That said, I'll throw this out....
I wouldn't personally mess around trying to get tickets from the official site or any other website which includes the underground. They're too difficult to get from the official site; there's a risk of them being cancelled if using an outside source; and you can see down into a lot of it from above. What I DO recommend is a tour that includes the Colosseum, Forum and Palatine as the latter two sites are important but less easily understood without guidance.

Tours usually run between 3-4 hours, and I'll throw out some companies that provide them (the Colosseum's own website does not offer a combo tour) and that other forum posters here have recommended. The prices aren't bad at all for a tour of that length. These companies, by the way, are not 3rd parties such as you'd find on Get Your Guide or Viator. If there's a problem, you won't be dealing with a middleman.

https://www.walksofitaly.com/rome-tours/roman-colosseum-tours/

https://thetourguy.com/tours/rome/complete-colosseum-tour?_gl=1*g2l0qb*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTE2Njc3MjQ1MS4xNzQ4Mzc2MDA3*_ga_PL03G473JD*czE3NDgzNzYwMDYkbzEkZzAkdDE3NDgzNzYwMDYkajYwJGwwJGgxMzU3Njk4NjM3

https://www.througheternity.com/en/colosseum-tours/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22172971138&gbraid=0AAAAADRUUBSrrw1AEfja7YZbDeHTYwqgK&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIi63CrbjEjQMV9kb_AR1y4gNjEAAYASAAEgJ1lPD_BwE

Kathy, Thank you for the information

You're welcome! Enjoy fascinating Rome!

It depends on what ticket you are looking to buy. I bought 24-hour Arena Floor tickets, and general Tier 1 & 2 entry tickets. Did not have to get up in the middle of the night to do it; they went on sale 30 days before the date we wanted, and I think I logged on around 8 am and bought the tickets without any issues.

Kathy, I so appreciate the links you included for the recommended combination tours of the Colosseum, Forum and Palatine Hill! We will be in Rome this upcoming October 5 - 10. From the beginning I wanted to have a guided tour for these areas, as well-done tours always add so much value to the experience. I had been so discouraged hearing about how hard it is to get tickets, and was resigned to getting up in the middle of the night a month before our trip to secure tickets from the official site until I read this thread.

I had also let go of the guided tour option when I also read about people using Get Your Guide (and other 3rd party companies) who cancel tours just days before due to lack of tickets, leaving people in the lurch. Nevertheless, I still have 2 questions:

1) Am I correct in that I can order my tickets TODAY (I know it's a long way off, but...) and be guaranteed they will be honored by the companies you recommend?

2) Of the 3 links you suggested, both Walks of Italy and Through Eternity seem to limit their group size a bit more, which is a plus....does anyone have any personal experience with any of them? I agree that all the prices are reasonable for what they include! Also, is it worth getting the Arena floor included in the Colosseum tour, or are Tiers 1 &2 enough?

I would love to book as soon as possible, as we have a couple of day trips planned and some other timed entry tix I'd like to figure out. Thank you for any additional input!